Picture Dees #4 Respect

Boy, I love the ocean! Unfortunately the ocean doesn’t love me. Whenever I try to go out on it I get sick. One summer when we went to the coast we chatted with a fisherman who spent his life on the ocean. The main thing he had to say about the sea was the fact he respected it. He knew what it was capable of doing to him and he treated it with great respect. He didn’t do anything foolish when he was out on it. He didn’t try to out smart it or turn his back on it. He had great admiration, high opinion, and esteem for this huge body of water. He took care of it as it had taken care of him all those years supplying him with the income he received from the fish he caught. It may have tossed him around a great deal of times but it still was worthy of his respect.

God also is praiseworthy of our respect, admiration, high opinion and esteem even more so than the ocean He created. He may allow us to be tossed around a time or two or more by the world in order to teach us how to withstand life's storms. But no matter what, He will always be worthy of our respect and we need to see that He gets it.

We do this by becoming obedient to His will instead of turning our back on Him in our behavior and choices as we try to out smart Him. We may not always get what we want at our demand from Him but it doesn't mean He is not worthy of our respect. Some days the ocean probably didn't give the fisherman what he was after for the day but it was still worthy of his respect. God will always be worthy of it because of who He is. Thus it's up to us to treat Him that way by honoring His holy name as, God our Father, Lord and Savior as we work hard at becoming the children we need to be through Him.

Copyright 2008 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing